


Worlds On Fire

by Izzyface



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, I tried not to write crack fic, Mild Drug Use (is pot even a drug?), One-Shot, Post 4x23 Canon, almost-fluff, season 4.5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-09-15 09:33:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9228914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzyface/pseuds/Izzyface
Summary: Things between them are awkward. So Felicity decides they should smoke a joint together.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I heard a song on the radio? Really, that's where this came from... I did try to find some plot and walk a fine line between fluff/angst/crack!fic.

**Worlds on Fire**

It wasn’t something he’d done in a long, long time. Before the island long time. When he’d taken the two joints off the kids his intention was to flush them back at the bunker, but then…

“Long night?” she asked. Oliver hadn’t expected her to still be there. She’d been quiet on the comms for over an hour and rarely told him goodnight anymore before returning to the loft. “Anything major?”

His response was a grunt. “I took care of it.” He replaced his bow and stripped down to just his pants. “What are you working on?”

Felicity let her eyes linger on his back and shoulder muscles, telling herself she was looking for injuries. Nothing new. She stared at his left shoulder, where Shado’s tattoo used to be, and she wondered if he regretted getting it removed. “Felicity?”

“Hmmm?”

“What are you working on?”

“Oh,” she reached up to adjust her glasses and tried to pretend she  _ wasn’t _ oogling her ex-fiancé. “I’m moving Darhk’s money. Donating it, of course. But also trying to find the other people behind his money. Going down the rabbit hole, I guess.”

“Got it.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m going to shower.”

The blonde smiled at him. “I’ll be here.” After he was gone, she made herself focus again. Things were so…  _ weird _ between them. Not good weird either. When she decided she wasn’t leaving Star City, wasn’t leaving  _ him _ ; Felicity had hoped they’d find a way to work together for the good of the city. And they  _ had _ , but things between the two of them were as awkward as ever.

When Oliver came back to the main room, Felicity forced herself to stop working. It was probably time for her to leave. This was his home and she was… She should leave. “So tonight was okay?”

“Yeah. Just a couple of muggers, nothing major. I stopped a couple of kids with some pot. Scared ‘em, took the pot. Like I said, nothing major.”

The computer technician couldn’t stop the laughter than bubbled up. “You really take their pot?”

“Yeah.”

“Ha.”

Oliver rolled his eyes. “They were maybe twelve, Felicity. Should’ve been at home, not hanging out in the warehouse district with weed. They’re lucky I’m the worst thing they ran into tonight.”

“You’re right,” she agreed. Felicity reached up and stretched. “So what did you do with it?”

“It’s in my jacket. I’ll probably toss it.”

“Or…” The blonde stopped herself. She really shouldn’t. This wasn’t a line they should cross.

“Or?”

“Pot is basically harmless, right?”

“Tommy and I certainly smoked enough of it when we were teenagers.” He gave her an Ollie Queen smile. “I don’t know about harmless, though.”

“It’s just… I never smoked pot, you know? I told you about the pot brownie and the nuts in college, but I mostly just remember the—”

“Felicity,” he interrupted. “Are you saying you want to smoke the pot I took from those kids earlier?”  

She nodded.

Oliver could never deny her anything. He walked over to his uniform case and reached into the pocket. On his way back to her, he stopped by one of the work areas to retrieve a lighter. “C’mon, let’s go sit over there.”  

Felicity followed him to the small sitting area and sat to his left. She watched curiously as Oliver put the hand-rolled cigarette in his mouth and then held the lighter to the end. It burned orange briefly. He took a pull from it, seemed to hold his breath momentarily, and then exhaled grayish smoke. Oliver coughed, but regained control carefully. The pungent smell she’d often associated with pot filled the air.

“Your turn,” he told her. He held the joint out to her and Felicity took it carefully.  

“What do I do?”

“Put it between your lips and inhale.” She did as he said. “You want to hold the smoke in your lungs, okay?. Try to count to three and then exhale slowly.”

Unlike him, her cough was violent and messy. It caused her eyes to water and lungs to hurt. Oliver disappeared momentarily and then reappeared with a bottle of water. She exchanged the water for the cigarette. He took another pull and then sat it on the edge of the table, lit end hanging off.

“You okay?”

Felicity nodded. “Yeah. That was unexpected, is all.”

“Sorry, I should’ve told you that would happen.” He watched her drink some more water. “Do you want to try it again?”  

“Yeah.” The blonde reached for the cigarette again. This time she expected the burn that filled her lungs and her cough wasn’t as bad. She took a second hit before passing it back to Oliver. “I can understand why people do this.”

His smile was easy. “We—me and Tommy—smoked all the time in high school. S’probably why I was such a terrible student. But it helped, I guess. Made me forget about everything everyone wanted from me for a little while.”

“In high school I was only focused on one thing, and that was getting out of Vegas. I was so determined to not turn into my mother that I probably wouldn’t have done drugs if anyone had bothered to offer.”  

“Things are better now, though.” Half of the joint was gone now, between the two of them. For the first time in a long time, things felt easy between them. Almost simple. “Between you and your mom.”

She lifted her shoulder. “I guess? I don’t know. I think she’s disappointed in me.”

“Why?”

Felicity took the cigarette from him and took her longest pull. She held the smoke in her lungs until her head started to feel swimmy and then exhaled extra slow. “You,” she finally answered. The blonde made herself look at her ex-fiancé and current partner. “She’s disappointed about you.”

“Me?” he questioned. “What?”

“When I told Mom I was staying here, to help you rebuild the city, I think she thought it was just a matter of time until we… you know. I think she knows that  _ I’m  _ the one that’s stopping us. She wants you to be her son so bad, and I wish I could give her that—”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Oliver stopped her. “Look, what happened with us is on me. I wish I could change things. I want to change things. But I know that you—that  _ we _ aren’t there. That we may never be there. I meant what I said the night Carrie Cutter attacked us, Felicity. You’re my always. When I die in my bed at 86, I hope you’re laying right there beside me.”

Tears pricked her eyes, but Felicity refused to let them fall. She took the proffered cigarette and busied herself with it. Was marijuana supposed to make you emotional? She’d have to look that up later.

“Oliver, I need to tell you something.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve been dating.”

He swallowed. He’d known this was a possibility. “Okay.”

“No one seriously. No one I’d dare call a ‘boyfriend’ or anything. Just coffee or lunch things. Nothing real.” Felicity made herself look at him. She could see the pain in his eyes. “I’m not even sure if I can have real with someone who isn’t you.”

“I understand.” It was his turn to take a hit that made his lungs burn. At this moment he wanted to be higher than a kite. “If you...if you find real, will you tell me?”

“Of course.”

They both fell silent at that point, knowing they’d discussed some things they’d silently vowed not to talk about. It was evident to them both that they loved each other, but the trust was broken. They trusted each other with their lives, but not with their hearts. It was hard to repair that once it was shattered. But tonight they’d made some important first steps.

After five minutes, Felicity spoke again. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have any Cheetohs down here?”


End file.
